On World Water Day we invite you to discover the most important challenges that a region like Latin America faces, through cartoons drawn for the World Bank Group by artists from around the world. 1.... Show More + For water services to work properly is essential to undertake regular maintenance just like you would with a computer or a car.The amount of water lost before reaching households – due, for example, to broken pipes - is estimated to be around 15% in developed countries, while in developing countries it can reach up to 50%.Learn more: Improvements in Water and Sewage Systems to Reach More than 200 Thousand Residents in Northern Lima 2. Due to global warming, glaciers, one of the most important sources of fresh water, are melting.In widely covered of glaciers, like the White Range in Peru or the Real Range in Bolivia, the total area has shrunk by about a third compared to the surface area during the Little Ice Age.Learn more: With Data and Technology, Ecuador is Seeking S Show Less -

Potential actionsAlthough the winds are favorable with respect to women’s labor market participation in Latin America, more actions should be taken to reduce the wage gap and favor women’s school-work... Show More + transition:Improvements in transport, increased access to childcare and flexible work schedules can contribute to increasing women’s available time. In Argentina, free public childcare services increased women’s labor market participation by 7% in 2011.Increase access to assets, land and credit. For example, by increasing access to formal credit markets (beyond microcredit) and to financial training. Support vulnerable families. Especially poor households headed by single women.Promote women’s empowerment through training programs and support to the labor-market transition and the creation of women’s employment networks.Additionally, the specialist believes it is crucial to work with the private sector to reduce the wage and employment gap given that this sec Show Less -

New analysis highlights need for better coordination and a focus on behavioral barriers alongside effective social and economic policies.LIMA, Peru, March 9, 2015 – One out of every five Latin Americans... Show More + or around 130 million people have never known anything but poverty, subsisting on less than US$4-a-day throughout their lives. These are the region´s chronically poor, who have remained so despite unprecedented inroads against poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean since the turn of the century.Their situation is becoming more precarious as the economic boom that significantly contributed to reduce poverty dwindles. Regional GDP growth has slowed, from about six percent in 2010 to an estimated 0.8 percent in 2014. This contraction will likely take away one of the biggest drivers behind the strong reduction in poverty: an improved job market.A new World Bank report, Left Behind, Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, takes a closer look at the region’s entrenched poor, w Show Less -

A neatly pressed suit, a tie, one or two mobile phones ringing 24/7.That's the image we have of the typical stockbrokers in a big city. They can interpret the thousands of numbers that appear on their... Show More + screen, buy and sell shares and make their clients win - or loose - millions of dollars a year.What if this knowledge reached small farmers in Latin America? It may sound like fiction, but learning to cope in the stock market is one of the alternatives that agricultural producers in Nicaragua have to face one of their biggest enemies: fluctuations in commodity prices.Currently, it is estimated that 20% of the population of Latin America lives on agriculture and millions of farmers depend on their crops not only to generate income but also to provide food for their families. And the impact of the vagaries of markets - often caused by unexpected and abrupt climate changes - is felt in countries like Nicaragua, where this explosive combination affects the poorest.In this situation, the Assoc Show Less -